I’ve been very aware of something for awhile now…and that is “I don’t know where I fit in”. However, it wasn’t until recently when I read Nick Inglis’ blog post that I really came to realise that my “problem” is actually not an uncommon one.

In his post Nick comments that when he’s speaking at a SharePoint event, he often gets categorized under “Other“.

This is because (as he states) the SharePoint world doesn’t quite have a place for those who do work with SharePoint but in an ECM/ERM/Governance capacity.

The Salem Consulting Group have made a list of “plausible” SharePoint roles. I have listed them below, and have added a quick description in between parentheses. These include:

• SharePoint Strategist (Complete business, and application knowledge. Has vision)
• SharePoint Practice Lead (Subject Matter Expert with technical, consulting & strategic skills)
• SharePoint Solutions Architect (Can translate Business requests into technical SharePoint solution)
• SharePoint Technical Architect (senior) (Deepest technical understanding of SharePoint)
• SharePoint Architect (Focused on the design, build, and configuration of the SharePoint platform and solution from a purely technical viewpoint)
• SharePoint Infrastructure Architect (Responsible for designing and building multi-farm enterprise SharePoint architectures.)
• SharePoint Search Architect (Familiar with taxonomies, folksonomies, etc. Can design & configure federated search solutions.)
• SharePoint Information Architect (Has the knowledge/experience to design and build logical information frameworks)
• SharePoint Farm Administrator (Manages the day to day administration of SharePoint.)
• SharePoint Administrator (Looks after site collections, etc)
• SharePoint Developer (A range of developer skills including .NET, C#, C++, Jquery and a wide range of other languages.)
• Infopath and Workflow Designer/Administrator (Customer facing, and familiar with Infopath & Designer)
• SharePoint User Interface Designer (Graphic designer for SharePoint who can create the user interface designs.)
• SharePoint Business Analyst (Can interpret business requirements and offer a solution using the standard SharePoint services and features.)
• SharePoint Programme/Project Manager (Project Management skills as well as fundamental technical understanding of SharePoint.)
• SharePoint DBA (SQL) (Know how to manage the SharePoint SQL databases.)
• Active Directory Administrator (Can set up the overarching security architecture).
• SharePoint Workflow Specialist (For when using 3rd party tools for workflow.)
• SharePoint BI Analyst/Architect/Administrator (Someone with specialist SharePoint BI skills include cube analysis etc etc)
• SharePoint Integrator (Able to integrate SharePoint with other systems -SAP, Documentum, etc.)
• SharePoint Mobile Specialist (Deep knowledge of Groove (2007) and SharePoint workspaces (2010) including the management and relay servers.)
• SharePoint Trainer/Instructor
• SharePoint User Adoption Specialist (Involved with the strategies of how to get the users to use the SharePoint solutions).

(Note – The original post (authored by Ian McNeice) from Salem offers a more detailed description of these roles. The link is at the end of this post.

In Nick’s post, he describes an “Information Professional“.

These are the people that have been busy developing models of governance … and have been driving forward the conversation about how SharePoint can be used as a “proper” ECM (and yes, maybe even ERM) system.

Looking at Ian’s list, I think the closest role that matches this is the “Information Architect”. This is the person who insists on maintaining a correct classifications, taxonomies, etc while has expertise in document management, version control techniques, data retention polices, publication and archiving practices.

Being prompted by Nick’s post, and then looking through Ian’s post has certainly help me better “label” myself.

Prior to this, even though I have worked in the Document Management field for over 10 years, I could never find a way of describing my skill set to a “SharePointy” (is that what you call a SharePoint fan?). I can set up, and administer SharePoint sites. I can design user interfaces. I can set up farms, as well as write kick-ass documentation. But I could do more than that.

Thanks to Nick and Ian, I’m going to go and update my LinkedIn profile.

Excellent References

• Nick’s Post “Excluding the Information Professional in SharePoint“
• Ian’s Post “The Key Skill Roles of SharePoint“